Dr Kurosaki
by Brinnyseph
Summary: Sometimes, there are things that a doctor can't fix. A broken heart is one of them. Set in an AU. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

** Chapter 1: Broken Wings**

Dr. Ichigo Kurosaki was lying on his bed, thinking about what happened at the clinic. Actually, not much really did happen, except for someone who was choking on a piece of chicken.

"Slow, as always…" Ichigo sighed, as he took a look at the clock to see what time it was. 11:23 PM, which was a little late. As with many people during these hours, Ichigo's mind wandered endlessly, until one provocative thought came to his mind. Something that pained him every time he thought about it. Though he didn't want to even think about it, his mind tried to grasp at the thought no matter how much he had resisted.

"It's been 4 years since that incident..." Ichigo mumbled quietly to himself. The person he was brooding about was none other than his childhood friend, Tatsuki Arisawa. She was a good companion, and was a good lover for a short period of time. Things changed, however, when an event that involved the two of them occurred.

Ichigo then turned over in his bed and put his face on the pillow, and spoke with his voice muffled: "Why'd it have to turn out like this?"

Tatsuki had been his girlfriend ever since he was 15 years old, and it lasted up until he was 21, a somewhat long relationship. Always faithful, she loved Ichigo with every ounce of her being, and tried her best to care and nurture him, as he did the same to her.

Turning over in his bed once again so that his face was looking at the ceiling, he told himself, "Whining about it isn't going to make it any better. But I can't forget that day."

Suddenly, he remembered an important detail. "I almost forgot that we have new interns coming in tomorrow. Should show them around the clinic once they get there."

Knowing that it was getting late, and that important things were going on tomorrow, Ichigo pulled his blankets over his head, and slept peacefully.

The next day, Ichigo came into the clinic at precisely 9 AM, to prepare things for the new interns, who both had supposedly come in for experience.

"Just another bunch looking to eventually get a job," thought Ichigo. "Won't take that long to get them adjusted to this place."

At 10 AM, the interns were supposed to arrive together, ready for whatever tasks that had to be performed. To pass the time, Ichigo was fiddling around with some IV's, polished the syringes, and washed his hands thoroughly to kill whatever germs were on his hands.

"They should be arriving here any second." Ichigo thought clinic doors creaked as two women walked into the clinic, and a few features intrigued Ichigo. One was of short stature, and had short black hair, and another was at average height, had long orange hair like Ichigo, and was well endowed. Ichigo couldn't forget that.

"So, I assume you're the new interns?" questioned Ichigo.

The black haired girl looked up at him, and replied, "Yes, we are."

Punctual, at least, he thought silently.

"If you two wouldn't mind, introduce yourselves to me." put Ichigo bluntly.

The orange haired girl hesitated for a moment, then eked out: "I'm sorry, but, you haven't introduced yourself, mister…"

Ichigo looked stunned.

"My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself first." he responded. "My name's Ichigo Kurosaki. Nice to meet you two."

"Rukia Kuchiki. Pleasure to be in your service." replied the black haired girl.

There was a brief pause before the orange haired girl said, "Um… my name is Orihime Inoue. Thank you for letting us work here."

With that, Ichigo nodded his head, and showed the two around the clinic.


	2. Curiosity

Chapter 2: Curiosity

After consulting with both Orihime and Rukia about what their tasks were for their internship, which included checking up on patients to see if they required anything and doing busywork. It was a simple job, really. Just braindead things to do, but it looked good on their

résumé, and that's all that mattered.

"So, that's pretty much it from here. This week is probably going to be a slow week, so you two can take it easy for now, at least. Got it?" Ichigo said plainly.

Rukia stood at attention, and said, "Yes sir. We understand the tasks we must accomplish."

Hearing this made Ichigo do a double take. What was up with this girl?

"It's Rukia, right?" said Ichigo.

"Yes, sir." Rukia replied.

Ichigo sighed, and told her, "You don't have to be so formal. Loosen up a bit."

Rukia looked stunned. "Why would you say that sir? We're in a hospital, and people's lives are at stake here!"

"For one, it's not good to put too much pressure on yourself. It's just going to hinder your ability to work."

After a long pause, Orihime decided to speak up, saying, "Rukia, I think what Dr. Kurosaki is saying is right. Let's try to do our best, but not wear ourselves out too much, okay?"

Rukia had a look of relief on her face. Finally, someone decided to speak up during that awkward silence.

"Th-Thank you, Dr. Kurosaki." stuttered Rukia.

Ichigo then left the two girls to their own devices, and both of them were sitting at the reception desk doing some paperwork, when Orihime decided to say something.

"Hey, don't you think that Dr. Kurosaki is kind of cute?"

Rukia looked at Orihime with a puzzled expression on her face, and said, "We don't need to be talking about this. Besides, what made you bring up the subject to begin with?"

"Well, I think that he's pretty cute, and his hair compliments his good looks!" Orihime replied.

"You're just saying that because you're a ginger too." Rukia snapped.

"No, I'm not!"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think he's sort of cute. Not exactly my cup of tea."

"Why not?"

"Let's talk about this later. I'm feeling tired."

Meanwhile, Ichigo was in his office at his desk doing nothing of importance.

"Geez, you think that having interns around here would spice things up a bit. Wishful thinking, I guess." Ichigo said quietly to himself.

All of a sudden, a ding could be heard from Ichigo's phone.

"Who could be texting me right now?" pondered Ichigo.

He then opened up his phone to check the message he received, and to his surprise, it was none other than Uryu Ishida. .

The message read: "**yo how are the interns?"**

"**ok. one's kinda tense though"**

"**both female?**"

"**yea y?"**

"**maybe she likes u :)**"

"**this isnt a romance manga uryu**"

"**no, kurosaki-kun, yamete~**"

"**buzz off"**

"**still hung up about her?**"

He decided to end the conversation there. Of course he thought that the two interns were very attractive, however, he didn't find too much of an interest in them. There was a bad taste in his mouth after Tatsuki, after all.

"**its been 4 years, ichigo. u have to find someone else**"

Ichigo grabbed and held his head in frustration. The first one is always the hardest to get over. Coincidentally, Rukia walked into his office, asking, "Dr. Kurosaki, do you mind if I-"

Rukia paused and took a look at her boss, wondering, "Why is he like this?"

Ichigo caught her out of the corner of his eye, straightened up, and quickly said, "Uh, what can I help you with?"

Puzzled, Rukia asked, "Sir, why were you in a position that looked like you were in a lot of pain?"

Sighing, Ichigo said, "I'm not exactly hurt. And what did I tell you about loosening up?"

"Sorry, Dr. Kurosaki." replied Rukia. "But what do you mean by 'not exactly hurt'?"

"I can't say why right now. Too complicated." mumbled Ichigo.

Rukia's face turned serious, and said to him, "I'm supposed to help you out in any way as I can as an intern. Didn't you say that if you don't loosen up, it'll hinder your ability to work?"

Ichigo looked Rukia in the eye solemnly, and told her, "Well…"

"Spit it out!" Rukia shouted.

Ichigo stood up, grabbed her by the shoulder, and said to her, "All I can say is that it has something to do with a girl I used to know. Nothing much."

Rukia fidgeted around a little and said, "Maybe I can assist you?..."

"Wait, pretend I never said that! It's not like I have feelings for you, that's just immoral!" Rukia rapidly said to correct herself.

"Um, I guess so." said Ichigo in confusion. "Is this all you need from me?"

"Y-y-yes, Dr. Kurosaki." replied Rukia.

"You can call me Ichigo, y'know." Ichigo murmured as she left the office.

As soon as she heard the door close behind her, Rukia was thinking to herself, "What was I doing? Why'd I blurt that out? Now he's going to think that I've got a thing for him…"

While she was walking back to the desk she was working at, she bumped into something that seemed as big as two basketballs. Looking up, it was Orihime, who was grinning ear to ear.

"Aw, look who came back! What did you tell him?" eagerly asked Orihime.

Rukia was flustered, and stammered, "I-I-It's nothing, okay? I just had to talk to him about some of the work we were doing."

Orihime's grin was still on her face, and responded, "I could hear you shouting, you know. If you have feelings for him, you can tell me. We're friends!"

"Drop it, Orihime. It's nothing important." said Rukia sternly.

After that conversation, several hours passed, and it was time for everyone to head out, as it was getting very dark out. As Ichigo was about to exit the clinic, he saw Rukia walking ahead of him with Orihime.

"Must be rooming together…" whispered Ichigo.

Turning her head, she looked back at Ichigo for what seemed like an hour, and turned away quickly.

"Hee Hee!" giggled Orihime.

"Weird. Wonder what's up with her?" Ichigo said as he scratched his head.

Ichigo got back to his home, cooked up a bit of dinner, showered, and hit the hay. It had been a somewhat long day, after all. Looking at his phone again, it seemed as though a new message had been received, once again from Uryu.

"**hey, sorry about earlier, it was uncalled for**"

"**dont worry about it, its all good**"

Ichigo then typed out, "**one of the interns is acting kinda weird though**"

"**what did i tell u? ur a chick magnet**"

"**shut it man**"

"**well maybe you could get to know her more**"

"**you know what i've been through**"

"**everyone is different ichigo**"

"**i know**"

"**give it a chance maybe something good will come**"

"**i'll give it some thought**"

Getting comfortable in his bed again, Ichigo decided to go on an inner monologue, telling himself, "He might be right. Time is supposed to heal wounds, after all…"

Ichigo chuckled and said, "I'm a doctor, but this is the one thing I can't fix. Nice."

Checking his alarm clock, which read 12:32 AM, he said, "I mean, Rukia's kind of cute, but I'm not sure if I should execute on it…"

"What the hell am I saying? Maybe I'll just give it a few days to think it over. Nothing is set in stone yet."

While Ichigo was dozing off, he started dreaming about a friendly conversation with Rukia, over dinner at an expensive restaurant.


	3. Eerie

**Author's Note: Sorry for the hiatus, guys. Hope this chapter and OFTGKTA's new chapter makes up for it. R&R, as always. **

Chapter 3: Eerie

Once again, he was in his office overviewing some files of patients that had recently come in. A certain patient had glaucoma, another had herpes, and the oddest one of them all had porcupine needles stuck in his back.

"That guy with the needles was a real pain to work on…" muttered Ichigo.

As usual, it was a slow, monotonous day, with nothing for Ichigo to really work on.

"You know, if this were some sort of shonen romance anime or manga, some sort of important event will happen right now. Right?" Ichigo asked.

Some sort of event happened, but it wasn't exactly that important. A Facebook message popped up on Ichigo's computer, from Uryu, of all things.

"**Hello Ichigo. How are you doing this fine afternoon?"**

"**Doing alright, I guess. What are you doing?**"

"**How's progress with Rukia going, again?**"

"**Shut up, dude. Let's not talk about it right now, I'm doing work at the moment.**"

"**Ichigo, I know how things go around at your place. You don't do that much work.**"

"**If you must ask, I did some work on a few patients today.**"

"**That's good, but let me get to the real point. Don't you have another intern working for you?**"

"**Yeah, I do. What of it?**"

"**She's pretty cute, from what I've heard and seen."**

"**Wait, how'd you get that information?**"

"**Word gets out around here pretty fast you know. She's a ginger right?**"

"**Yeah, what of it?**"

"**Do you ever wonder if the carpets match the drapes in her case?**"

"**stfu**"

"**Look, I'm just saying you should be a little more open with your choices. Clear your mind and stuff, right?**"

"**Don't use my words of advice on me.**"

"**Well then, heed my words of advice. Keep your options wide, not narrow. Life's too short to get hung up on one thing, you know?**"

"Shit, he has a point. Maybe I should look a bit farther, and I'll get somewhere like that." quietly murmured Ichigo.

Spinning around in his chair, Ichigo then said, "Well, I bet you in the next moment, something that would only happen in a shonen manga will occur."

He was right in that department, as Orihime walked into his office asking, "Do you mind if I have my lunch break with you?"

Ichigo stammered out, "Um… S-s-sure. I don't see a problem."

Quietly, Orihime sat down in a chair next to him, and began unpacking the boxed lunch she had prepared before she went to work.

_Wow, I never knew she was this cute up close… Wait, what am I saying!?_ Ichigo silently thought to himself.

Orihime slowly turned her head in Ichigo's direction and earnestly asked, "Would you like a bite of my lunch?"

"Uh, y-yeah!" Ichigo stuttered.

Puzzled, Orihime looked at Ichigo and said, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine, why must you ask?" Ichigo said in defense.

Putting her finger on her chin, she stated, "Well, you seem kinda nervous today. You can't work properly unless you clear your mind, right?"

As she said that, a little grin appeared on her face, and Ichigo wondered quietly to himself, _That sounds familiar… Wait, that's me. How does she know that I said that?_

"R-r-right. Um, if I may ask, what're you eating?" Ichigo asked.

Her ears perked up when he said that, and happily exclaimed, "Chocolate covered steak!"

"I think I'll pass, but thanks for the offer. Not too hungry, anyways."

An awkward silence passed over for about 5 minutes until Ichigo decided to pipe up and say, "Where'd you hear that from?"

Puzzled, Orihime squinted at him and asked, "Hear what?"

"You can't work properly unless you clear your mind. Where'd you hear that from?"

"Oh, I overheard the conversation you and Rukia had! Things sounded like they were getting really heated."

_Damn, I didn't expect that to happen. Hope she doesn't get the wrong idea…_ Ichigo thought to himself.

"Well, it's nothing really you need to worry about. Just some stupid thing that has no importance, alright?"

"Speaking of Rukia, what do you think about her?"

_Why's she gotta have that big smirk on her face when she mentions her?_

"What do you mean?"

"Uh… Do you find her… attractive?"

"Um, I don't think that's something I can comment on at the current moment."

"Yes you can! It's just an opinion, Ichigo. I swear I won't tell her!"

_Sure.  
_

"Fine. I think…"

"Go on. Tell me more!"

"...she's cute. There, happy?"

"I didn't know that you liked small girls, Ichigo!"

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"She's pretty short, ya know. I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

"I'm not, I just happen to find her cute. That doesn't mean I see her as a romantic interest."

"Don't you think that she could be one?"

"Let's not talk about this now."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I don't feel like it."

"Please?"

"Ask one more time and you're fired."

"Hmph!"

Orihime kept pouting, which slightly annoyed Ichigo, but at least it stopped her incessant blabbering about Rukia. He felt somewhat uncomfortable talking about it, as well.

"Ichigo?" asked Orihime.

"What is it this time?" shot Ichigo.

"Would you mind if I checked my email?" replied Orihime.

"Don't see the problem. Go ahead."

Orihime scooted her chair over to his computer, and was trying to make herself feel comfortable, but something caught her eye.

"Hey Ichigo, what's this?"

To Ichigo's dismay, Orihime noticed that his internet browser was still open, took note that her name popped up a few times in the conversation between him and a person unknown to her.

_Shit! Why'd I have to be a dumbass and leave my Facebook open?_

"It's nothing, really-"

"Ichigo." Orihime said sternly. "I'm not stupid. Why are you talking about me here?"

Ichigo took a deep breath and sighed, "Look. It's just an old friend of mine talking about how my love life is somewhat broken, alright? Nothing too serious."

"You're not answering my question…" Orihime trailed off.

"He was talking about you since he knew that I had new interns that were female, and he teased me about it. Happy?"

"Not yet."

"What do you need now?" groaned Ichigo.

"What do you think about me?"

"Huh?"

"I said, what do you think about ME?"

"This is kind of a hard thing for me to say, I-"

"You were able to say it about Rukia…"

"C'mon now, don't be so harsh."

"..."

"Well, alright. I think that you're pretty cute, too."

"W-w-wha?"

"Why're you getting flustered? You asked me for my opinion and I gave it. Simple as that."

"I didn't expect you to put it so b-b-bluntly like that…"

"That's just the kind of guy I am."

_She's trembling. This isn't how I imagined her to be. I thought she was going to act like some airhead who was happy-go-lucky, but I guess she has a sensitive side as well. Guess I can't judge a book by its cover. _Ichigo thought.

"I think it's time for you to get back to work. Lunch break is over." Ichigio suddenly stated.

Looking at the time, Orihime exclaimed, "Oh… yeah! I'll get back to work in no time!"

Immediately, she bolted out of the room and almost slammed her face into a pillar, but narrowly dodged it.

_Girls these days are crazy, I swear… _thought Ichigo.

_After work, at Rukia and Orihime's apartment…_

"How was work today for you?" Rukia asked.

Orihime squeaked out, "It was interesting."

Intruiged, Rukia then said, "Eh? Define interesting. Tell me what happened."

"Oh, it was nothing really important."

"It HAD to be somewhat important if it made you talk so gingerly about it. You can tell me. We're friends."

"Ichigo…"

"Ooh! What about him?"

"We talked a little bit about me…"

"What did he say? I'm dying to know!"

"I'm cute. He said I was cute."

"Ah, I knew that he had the hots for you, Orihime! I guess he likes gingers."

"...he said you were cute too."

Taken aback by this, Rukia chuckled a little and asked, "You're kidding, right?"

"Why would I lie to you?" Orihime said honestly.

"You make a point. B-b-but anyways! This is great, maybe you two can actually, you know…"

"I didn't know you were THAT perverted, Rukia!"

"I'm just messing around with you. Besides, you did the same thing to me a little while ago, why can't I do it to you?"

"You were being really brash about it. Like, really embarrassed. I don't know why you would be though."

"Forget about it, it's kind of late in the night anyways. Go to bed, I'll be on my computer for a while."

"Don't strain your eyes." Orihime said as she walked out of Rukia's room.

There was this odd pit in Rukia's stomach that she couldn't shake, and she thought, _What's this feeling? Could it be…?_

_Ichigo's house, 12 AM…_

"Damn, it's pretty late. Funny how a doctor is treating himself kind of trashily. Oh well." thought Ichigo aloud, lying down in his bed.

_Still, I'm a little bothered by what Orihime did today. What's gotten into her? And Rukia? Maybe I'm just ovethinking things again. _

"Time to hit the hay…" murmured Ichigo as he fell face-first onto his pillow.

"Wonder if she thinks about me, still…" Ichigo said, half-asleep.


End file.
